Welcome to camp half-blood
by awesome.galway.girl
Summary: Her name is Kathleen McDermott. She's from the land of the leprachauns. She can box, hurl, sing, ride a horse and run. But the question is, can she survive?
1. Chapter 1

**Yes, first fanfic. PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEE Review. It would mean so much.**

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Kathy missed everything about Ireland. She missed the everlasting rain. She missed her Irish wolfhound. She missed being in a country where everyone didn't own a gun. She even missed the way the seagulls would attack your food the moment you looked away from it on the beach. Damn clever gulls.

When she had the dream she followed its instructions to the letter. She wasn't sure why the plane ticket was for an airport in Chicago when she was meant to travel to Long Island. Why wasn't her flight to JFK Airport? Don't gods have maps? She packed her rucksack with the weird little square medicine thingies (ambrosia, like the rice pudding apparently), money (dollars and euros), dried fruit (lighter, handier, and keeps longer than normal fruit), a set of spare clothes, her prized Galway jersey, her hurley and sliotar, her football, her compass, matches, her precious Swiss army knife, a one litre thermos flask, a hardy waterproof watch, water purifying tablets. Kathy always liked to be prepared.

She still wondered how she managed to get through security in both Shannon Airport and Chicago O'Hare Airport without being arrested .She was certain most of the stuff in her bag was banned from hand luggage. Oh well, their bad. They didn't bat an eyelid at her forged passport either. Aoife wasn't surprised. When your mam is one of the most successful groups of grifters in Europe, lies and forgery are second nature.

It didn't matter either way; she was in Long Island now, almost there. She didn't really like America; then again it's hard to appreciate a country when you're being chased by monsters. Kathy had a quarter of an hour's lead but those snake-women were fast. She saw the crest of the hill she saw in her dream when a faint hissing reached her ears. Five snake –legged women bared their teeth as she turned around. She kept scrambling towards the pine tree. She caught one monster with a blow to the chest with the hurley. She smashed it at another monsters jaw but as they incinerated the other three surrounded her. She glimpsed a figure on the crest of the hill. Backup. All she had to do was hold them off. Mind you killing them wasn't off the agenda.

Kathy smiled and elbowed one monster while clubbing another with her hurley .Breathing heavily she raised her leg and caught the third with a powerful kick then whacked it with the hurley. "Ki'ia, bitch" She brushed her hair out of her indigo blue eyes.

Her "backup" stabbed the one she elbowed and it disintegrated .he chose that moment to introduce himself. "Hi I'm Malcolm. Um, what's with the stick?"** (For those of you unfamiliar with the terms hurley and sliotar they are the bat and ball used for the Irish Gaelic game of hurling)**

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Updates will be every two days or so. please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter! Enjoy**

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An hour later she had been brought to the big house, met Chiron( he was quite happy about her knowledge of horses), watched an introductory video and was being shown around by another demigod called Mitchell ( Malcolm had to attend a counsellors meeting). He was friendly but it took him half an hour to figure out she was Irish and thus he lost major brownie points.

"You really though all Irish people spoke like cartoon leprechauns?" "Well…. Yeah, kind of" Kathy pulled an over exaggerated look of hatred. "You disgust me" Mitchell smiled. "You're coping very well." "What, with the whole you're father is a Greek god thing? I suppose I am. Its funny really, my mom always told me my dad was Greek."

"Well this is where our oracle, Rachel sleeps and stuff." He said gesturing at a cave on one of the hilltops, as if most teenage girls slept in caves. She was shown the pavilion, the forge, the javelin range, the stables and the canoe lake. Mitchell was joined at the stables by Emma, a dark-haired, Australian daughter of Apollo.

"Is this the new kid Malcolm was talking about? The way he told it she's a pretty impressive fighter" Emma said studying her. Kathy reddened under Emma's scrutinizing gaze. "It was a fluke. If they knew I could hit them back they would have had their guard up." Kathy said dismissively. 'Maybe' Emma shrugged.

Then Mitchell took her to see the main wing of cabins. She liked the look of cabin six, Malcolm's cabin apparently. The owly theme was cool. Cabin eight glowed like moonlight and she noticed that the cabin opposite glowed too but in a golden colour. When they walked past cabin ten Kathy gagged, the smell of perfume was overpowering. "Is this where deodorant cans go to die?" "Um…Actually this is my mom's cabin" Mitchell said reddening slightly. Kathy felt her face going scarlet. "Omigods I am soooo sorry" she said, mortified. "Its okay, the smell takes quite a bit getting used to, just be grateful you don't have to sleep with it" they passed by a cabin that looked like the metalwork class in her old school .Kathy smiled "Hephaestus?" she asked "God of blacksmiths and fire" Mitchell said approvingly. "I did metalwork at my old school" Kathy said thoughtfully. "Well even if he isn't your dad they're always looking for extra help in the forge"

They were nearly done when Kathy stopped outside one of the cabins. "What's this cabin?" "Eleven, Hermes, god of thieves." Mitchell replied. Suddenly Mitchell looked up. She looked up to see an emblem of glowey lightishness above her head. "Hermes? Well looks like we're going back to the Big House" Mitchell said in a thoughtful tone.

After the whole claiming thing was explained to her she was certain her dad had no excuse for the whole airport thing (seriously, what was wrong with JFK? why Chicago?). The head counsellor of the Hermes cabin, Connor Stoll, took her to be introduced to the rest of her siblings. "Well sis, this is home" Connor said gesturing at the cabin "after you." he said to Kathy, immediately spotting the mischievous glint in his eyes knew this was a bad idea. "No you first, I insist" Kathy said pushing him in. The trick planned for her was a masterpiece. Connor was covered in flour, water poured over him and hanging upside down from the rafters before anyone could intervene. "What?" Kathy said innocently, silently laughing at the looks on their faces. While the rest of her siblings busied themselves either gawping at her or cutting Connor down one of the girls introduced herself. "Hi I'm Janet Lindskey, welcome to the madhouse. What's your name?" she said with a Southey (south Boston) accent. 'Kathleen McDermott but everyone calls me Kathy. Do I have to worry about stuff like this from now on?' Janet grinned 'Don't worry its kind of a welcoming tradition.'

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	3. Chapter 3

**Third chapter! enjoy**

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The whole week she trained hard. Like really hard. The some of the cabin were a bit doubtful about her (Mel, Lewis& Georgina) but they accepted her after she put some worms in their sleeping bags. Kathy knew how to win people. Some wanted compliments, some wanted respect, and some wanted to see what she could do. The Hermes kids wanted to see if you could put worms in their sleeping bags. That, after all requires true talent.

She was a fast runner so the footraces were easy. She even managed to beat two of her siblings. She enjoyed climbing the lava wall &canoeing. Clarisse from the Ares cabin had capsized her when she getting into her kayak and the rest of her cabin took it as an excuse to attack the Ares cabin. Kathy had fun swimming under the Ares campers' boats and overbalancing them. Clarisse didn't expect her when she was grabbed from behind, thrown into the water, and tied to the pier. Go team. The two cabins had to go to lunch dripping wet (well, most of them. Some of the Ares kids were still tied to the pier) but it was worth it. She loved her first Pegasus riding lesson. Butch put her on Ash, a grey stallion with obsidian coloured wings. He may have looked pretty but that horse had fire. She was due to start flying next Monday.

As soon as Kathy stepped onto the archery range on Wednesday Lacy (one of Mitchell's sisters, who had become friends with her) caught her eye, looking appalled and performed a gesture that looked like she was scratching her cheek. Dirt, she mouthed. So, I've got dirt on my face, she thought, now, do i really care? She wiped the dirt for Lacy's sake. She was shown how to notch an arrow, aim and shoot by Will Solace. The bow was then handed over to her. Before attempting to shoot Kathy tied her auburn hair back in a ponytail.

She took aim, Will carefully made sure he was behind her and out of the firing line. She took a deep breath and fired. The arrow amazingly, flabbergastingly, unbelievably hit the outer rim of the target. Kathy blinked and turned to Will. "Did I just do that?" He seemed just as amazed as she was. "I think you did". They stared for a minute. "Definitely a fluke." Kathy said. She notched another arrow and fired. This time it hit the ground three metres away from the target. "See, total fluke" Lacy came over to her when they were done. "Good job. You didn't hit anyone. Not even a little bit." she said sounding impressed.

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	4. Chapter 4

Emma was in charge of sword-fighting and immediately singled her out as soon as she stepped into the amphitheatre. They were taking the session with the Hephaestus campers. "Hey Kathy, how about you help me start the lesson?" she said in her sunny Australian accent. Kathy did not like the look on her siblings' faces at all (even though Janet gave her thumbs up sign. Well, her siblings weren't the most trustworthy people) but couldn't refuse Emma's friendly seeming request. Everyone watched them sparring. Emma had her disarmed in under a minute. 'That was horrendous' Emma said bluntly. Kathy shrugged. Then an idea so awesome stuck her that she just had to try it. And Emma had just enough pride. 'That may be so but i could beat you boxing anytime.' Emma's eyebrows disappeared into her fringe. 'What kind of rule set?' Kathy already knew they had a deal. 'Pankration. But no "fighting to the death stuff"' Kathy added hastily 'Challenge accepted, Kathy.' A wicked grin flashed across Kathy's face. 'Let's dance auzzie.' (If any Australians find this offensive then I am sorry. Yes, I do mean you Poseidon lover311.) This time it was Kathy who dominated the fight. She punched, kicked and jabbed like a demon/mini, auburn-haired Katie Taylor (look it up). Emma managed to get in a few weak jabs, but the Irish girl was fast as well as having abs of steel. Out of pity, she let Emma get a shot in. She got her right in the stomach. Kathy didn't even stumble. 'That the best you can do?' Kathy said with a grin after dodging another one of Emma's ill-placed punches and countering with one of her own. Finally, after toying with Emma for a minute, she caught her temple with a powerful right hook. Emma was on the ground before she knew what was happening, Kathy was doing some kind of dance, a pleased smile on her face and a triumphant glimmer in her eyes. 'You should be proud. That right hook was last used on the under sixteen's Connacht champion.' Kathy, despite not looking like her siblings in most ways had the Hermes smile. Fun and laughing with a touch of 'I know ten ways to make you look like an idiot and I'm going to use all of them'. 'The boy's champion. He was out cold before he hit the ground. And I had boxing gloves on. You either have high endurance or a hard head. Congrats, either way.' 'What was that dance thing?' Kathy's eyes widened, shocked that nobody recognised her move. I mean, come on, it's famous. It was done a the feckin' Olympics 'It's the Mullingar shuffle, y'know, like John-Joe Nevin' she saw Emma's puzzled look. 'The boxer.' Again she was met with silence. She looked at Emma and shook her head. 'He is an Irish boxer who won a medal at the London Olympics and is European champion in his weight class. How could you not know that?' The rest of the Hermes cabin were either suppressing smiles or just smiling. Somebody muttered 'show-off' but Kathy just gave them a smile 'I guess it runs in the family'. 'C'mon, we'll be late for wrestling' Kathy said.


	5. Annoying mangoes and getting lost

**Chapt 5: annoying mangoes and getting lost**

On Friday morning Kathy had ancient Greek. She knew some of it. Some, in this case meant she could spell some words very badly and pronounce them even worse. Sonja, Malcolm's sister, was despairing by the end of their session. It was hard. This way harder than English or Irish or French or Spanish or Portuguese or Mandarin Chinese or Russian or any other language her mother had made her learn. Well maybe not Russian. Kathy hated Russian. Russian was annoying. Like unneeded dramatic music. Or mangoes. Mangoes were the worst.

The whole camp had Friday afternoon off so the Hermes cabin seemed bent on teaching her to pick a lock. She successfully managed to lock herself out of the cabin (with her siblings inside)and spent the next half hour trying to unlock the door ,cursing them as they laughed as her face grew increasingly sunburnt. Then she taught them how to hand whistle. Well, she tried. Only nine of them could do it after two hours so they decided that those who could do it would be spread out in different groups during capture the flag so they could signal each other.

After that most of the cabin went off to concoct a plan to get back at Clarisse for what was becoming known as "the great kayak incident" (because attacking them wasn't enough revenge-wise) so only Janet, herself, and Lewis (who was the most serious member of the cabin, and thus no fun) remained in the shade of some trees by the lake. They were joined by a few members of the Athena cabin to discuss tactics. Kathy found herself contributing. She was a big person for evil plans. Her mam had drilled it into her that if you do something with a plan, even if you don't stick to it, you still have one. A bad plan is better that no plan at all.

After dinner that evening Kathy took part in her first game of capture the flag. Before they went to join the rest of the red team Connor took her aside. 'Your sword is blunt.' He said sounding curious. 'Yeah, I heard maiming was frowned upon' was Kathy's reply. A hint of a smile tried valiantly to plant itself on Connor's lips. It failed. Miserably. Still it was a good effort. 'They say that a blunt blade is more dangerous than a sharp one' Connor said innocently. 'To be blunt, that's sort of the point' Kathy shrugged. 'Pun intended?' 'What pun?' was the innocent reply.

The Hermes cabin had teamed up with Hecate, Athena, Aphrodite and Demeter with some of the smaller cabins joining them. The Hephaestus camper's were preoccupied with making prototypes in bunker nine so they were not taking part but they did supply them with armour and weapons.

Lacy came over to stand beside her. 'How's it going?' 'Alright anois, cén chaoi a bhfuil tú féin?'Kathy said, absent-mindedly lapsing into Irish (anyone who speaks irish as a first language will tell you, it is automatic to do this. 'What?' Lacy said, completely bewildered. 'I said "I'm alright now, how about you?" didn't you hear me?' Kathy said puzzled, not realising what she had done. 'That may be what you said but you said it in Swahili or something.' Lacy said indignantly. 'I said it in Irish didn't I?' Kathy said annoyed with herself 'Sorry about that.'

They were divided up as the large assault team, stealth team, scouts, guards and backup and stationed throughout the woods. Every team had a member of the Hermes cabin so that they could hand whistle if they needed help. Kathy was on the stealth team, which consisted of her and Jack from the Hecate cabin. Jack was to lead and if the encountered anyone Kathy would hide as Jack led them away. As soon as it was safe all she had to do was continue on her own. They were both wearing leather armour. As Jake Mason had explained to her earlier that day leather armour didn't offer much protection but she would be able to move much faster.

The conch horn sounded and they took off. They were in blue territory before they met their first blue scout. Kathy whacked him on the head before he could raise the alarm. Really hard.

After twenty minutes or so Jack went over a trip wire and a whistle sounded. He turned to Kathy. 'Hide' he mouthed. She scaled a nearby oak tree apologising to the resident dryad as she climbed. As soon as she was hidden Jack took off as fast as he could. After a minute or so Kathy heard the distant clang of swords. She nimbly hopped down from her tree, thanking the dryad as she did so. She saw a trail heading south and decided to follow them. After five minutes or so she noticed that these footprints didn't have any grooves on them. And she also remembered that everybody wore runners (sneakers to you Americans/Canadian/Australians/anywhere else they call them sneakers-ians out there) which did have grooves on them. And then she looked around her. And then she saw it.


	6. Chapter 6

It didn't look like any of the Greek monsters Sonja had told her about. It didn't look like anything in Greek mythology at all. It only reminded her of an old story that her uncle had told her, one that she had begged to hear before she went to bed whenever he was over, well aware that it would keep her up half the night with nightmares. Her uncle had told her that the legend of the Pooka was so old that it was older than the Twelve Pins (a group of mountains in the west of Ireland) she had seen when she came down to visit him at his house in Galway.

Even though she was a daughter of a Greek god or maybe because of it she had dismissed Celtic legends as just stories, innocent, harmless. But stories don't turn up, lead you away from help and look that scary. 'Pooka' she breathed, terrified. It had taken the form of a ram. Now, a ram may not seem as terrifying as a horse or a bull or a lion, in fact you, dear reader, may think a ram is something cute to coo at and cuddle but imagine a ram that was six feet tall and seven feet long with eyes that looked like molten rubies. Oh, and imagine it was looking right at you. It was not helped by the fact that Kathy knew a ram was its fiercest form, its killer form. Its feet were shaped like the footprints she saw on the ground. Its horns gleamed wickedly in the fading afternoon light with tips as sharp as spearheads.

Kathy was frozen in place, paralyzed by the beast's eyes._'Run!'_ said a voice in her head that she was pretty sure didn't belong to her. She wished she could obey but she was frozen in fear. _'Snap out of it you stupid child!'_ the voice shouted at her. This time she listened. She ran at full speed the way she came but the darkening sky was not helping. After a minute she stumbled over a tree root and fell. She drew her sword as she scrambled to her feet. The Pooka was about to pounce. She tried to stab it with her sword but the blade bounced off its tough hide harmlessly. 'Blunt sword. You idiot.' She thought to herself. She threw herself to the left but the beast managed to plant one of its legs on her trailing right foot. She heard the various bones crack, shattered by the weight. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. Great, now she couldn't run. She scrambled away as best as she could, throwing sticks and rocks at the monster. One rock went into its mouth and lodged itself in the Pooka's throat. This at least was buying her a few moments. **_'_**_Signal your comrades. You cannot fight this alone!'_ the voice said urgently. Kathy tried to unscramble her thoughts, fighting off the panic just long enough to remember the hand whistle. She dropped her sword (it wouldn't be much use to her now) and blew desperately. All she could hear was her feeble attempt at a whistle and her heart thumping in her chest. She blew again and thankfully this time it worked. The whistle, which sounded a bit like an owl, echoed through the forest, loud and clear.

She threw her sword aside as the Pooka prepared to attack again. This time she rolled underneath it, taking her Swiss army knife out and slashed upwards. As she did this some voice in the back of her mind told her that her knife wasn't made of celestial bronze or imperial gold and thus would not do the slightest bit of damage. Almost immediately the voice was silenced by the screech the Pooka made as a long cut opened up on its underbelly. Kathy didn't care how it worked. She just thanked the gods that it did. She scrambled away, trying to ignore the searing pain in her foot. During the following minute she was forced to put weight on her crushed foot several times and she was not happy about it. Each time the pain seared higher and higher up her leg. She managed to cut the Pooka the odd time but she didn't have the strength or blade length to do any real damage. If help didn't come soon the Pooka would eventually get her. She whistled whenever she could but she found herself having to focus more on dodging the monster's vicious attacks.

After a while she had started to give up hope of help when the Pooka managed to kick her in the ribs. She grunted in pain as her ribs took the impact .the blow had knocked her off her feet and the Pooka kicked again. This time she flew backwards and tried to turn in mid-air landing face first on the ground. She screamed in pain as the beast landed on her, its feet on her shoulder blades, pinning her to the ground. Her vision was starting to go foggy but she could have sworn she heard someone calling her name. She looked up, fighting the fogginess that had descended on her and saw several members of the red team running full pelt in her direction.


	7. Like a rainbow threw up on your face

Lacy, Janet and Emma took turns in the infirmary over the next day and a half. They puzzled over what had happened in the woods. As soon as help had arrived the monster ran, leaving a very bruised, battered and unconscious daughter of Hermes behind. Nobody knew what the monster was, how it got into camp or why it had fled. It was all very very worrying.

When Kathy woke up Lacy and Emma were in the infirmary, talking to each other quietly

'How long was I out?' 'A day' Lacy said in her usual cheery voice. 'How're you feeling?' Emma asked quietly in her very best 'talking to a very sick person about something very serious' voice. 'Crap.' Kathy responded reasoning that as she was the invalid she was allowed to be miserable. 'Well, I better go tell your siblings you're awake. They were all in here earlier till Will and I explained "the piss off until she's awake rule" to them.' Emma said. 'Or you could tell me how awful my injuries are.' Kathy responded persuasively 'You bruised four ribs, broke several bones in your right foot, bruised your collarbone and smashed your face in. Believe me the result is not pretty. You look like a rainbow threw up on your face.' Emma said, keeping a straight face. 'That's just lovely.' Kathy said as cheerfully as she could manage. 'Do you know what that was?' Lacy burst in, the topic which she and Emma had spent the last half hour discussing fresh in her mind 'In the woods? Yeah I have a theory.' Lacy and Emma looked at each other. 'O.k. what is your theory?' Lacy said unable to bear Kathy's procrastination any longer. 'Think it was a Pooka.' 'A what? Like in Rise of the Guardians?' Lacy said. Kathy looked murderous. 'If you think a Pooka is a silly little cartoon bunny then gods help you if you ever meet one!' Lacy looked hurt. 'The Easter bunny in Rise of the Guardians isn't little.' Kathy gave up.

'Look, this is an old _Celtic _legend so you may not believe it but the description fits, ok?

There was a village in ancient Ireland. In that village lived old Peggy. In her youth she had been very beautiful and talented etcetera. Now however, in her old age, she was better known for her cruel deformity, which had earned her the nickname "Peggy of the Crooked Back". For as long as anyone could remember she had been afflicted with a hideous, misshapen back, which made it impossible for her to stand upright.

Away from her presence, the local children would make fun of her, calling her "hunchback" or "walking table". No one dared to do this to her face. For, even with her back Peggy was a village elder. She told the children tales of heroes, sí and spirits. One tale, above all impressed them. This was the one story which she claimed was true in every respect.' Kathy paused 'and here it is.'

'The arrival of summer was a happy time in the village. But the celebrations were also a reminder of darker times. The 30th of April was Beltane, the witches' day when evil spirits were at their strongest. It was a day when every man, woman and child would be well advised to make sure they were indoors when evening came.

Peggy had heard tales of horror from her elders but she was young and foolish and thought nothing of the tales. What were a few imps and fairies to her? How could they hurt her? Those were her thoughts on one particular May Eve, in her youth, when she did not return home on time.

As she walked back across the fields, a thin mist began to rise. She quickened her step but the light of the day ebbed away quickly. By the time she arrived at the crossroads, the sun had already set. It was even darker on the forest path, where tall trees arched above her, blocking out the moonlight. Then as she harried on she heard a rustling sound to her right. She glanced around and saw something that resembled a black goat with ruby eyes and black horns.

Peggy broke into a run. She had only gone a few paces when she saw two more of the creatures.

Blind panic took hold of her, and she ran like never before. But the rustling proved to her that the beasts were keeping pace. Suddenly one of the creatures leaped and landed on her back.

How she stopped herself from falling she never falling, she never knew. She kept running and finally she saw a house in the distance. She called out, but nobody heard. She could hear people inside but the place was locked. People knew better than to leave a door unlocked on Beltane. She banged on the door and after a long moment the door opened and the beast sprang away from her shoulders. But although her life was spared, Peggy was never able to straighten her back. Whenever Peggy finished this story there would always be one voice that piped up 'what was it that sat on your back?' and she would look grave and say 'it was a Pooka. And you better hope it never comes to sit on yours'."

Kathy looked her friends in the eyes. To her surprise it looked as if they believed her. 'That fits,' Lacy said quietly. 'Yeah' Emma agreed equally solemn. 'So now we know, what do we do?' 'Keep it to ourselves until you're up and about.'

After they had gone Kathy thought about the voice she had heard. Among all the uncertainty there were three things she knew: 1. that voice was not her subconscious, as her subconscious had never been that helpful. 2. It wasn't her dad because it was a woman's voice and 3. Her Swiss army knife wasn't made of normal metal.


	8. Punching things & some burnt lunch

As soon as the news got out that she was okay Kathy had a steam of visitors in and out. Jack was the first because he had blamed himself for leaving her alone (which Kathy thought was actually quite sweet) Many of her siblings blamed him too. 'All you did was stick to the plan. I would have done the exact same thing in your place.' Kathy had told him. It hadn't helped much but she had tried. By the second morning Kathy was free to go. She immediately met up with Lacy and Emma. She still had the "rainbow sick" effect on her face but otherwise she was okay. Connor had told her the day before that she was to attend an emergency counsellors meeting about the creature in the woods. 'Do you think they'll believe me?' Kathy asked her friends. 'Of course they will. It's not like they have a better idea.' Lacy said reasonably. Somehow this was not very comforting.

Connor and Kathy arrived at the rec room early so they took their seats and waited for the rest of the counsellors to arrive. When Chiron came in the meeting began.

'Does anybody know what it was?' Clarisse asked after Chiron retold what had happened. Everybody turned to look at Malcolm. 'It isn't in any stories at all.' Malcolm complained 'Nothing matches with that thing.' 'Are there any stories of shape-shifters?' Jake Mason asked. 'Yes but the borders should have kept it out if it was one of those monsters' Malcolm replied.

'Maybe you're looking at the wrong stories.' Kathy said neutrally. Clarisse sneered 'And I suppose you have an idea.' Kathy's eyebrow shot up 'Still sore about losing to me at wrestling, are we? I'd have gone easy on you but you just had to call me British.' Irishness was a very important thing to Kathy. Kathy shrugged 'And seeing as you mentioned it I do have an idea. But it's not a Greek myth. Before you say anything it fits.' Kathy said looking at Butch rainbows who had his mouth open to interrupt. She proceeded to tell them about the Pooka. When she was done Katie Gardiner piped up. 'But aren't Celtic myths just made up?' Kathy almost laughed. 'Ah you see, that would sound reasonable if it hadn't come from the mouth of a goddess's daughter in the rec room of a house in the middle of a magical camp full of other demigods and nymphs and goat-people a drive away from Mount Olympus which is on the six-hundredth floor of the Empire State Building. ' Kathy said, defiantly sitting back in her chair. She looked at Chiron who was looking grave. Her face turned serious. 'I'm right ament I?' 'Yes.' Chiron said gravely.

Kathy looked at him expectantly. Chiron almost smiled at how like her father the girl's attitude was. Before Hermes became a god he had the same way of figuring things out and asking if he was right, not expecting to be wrong and usually not disappointed. It was rather annoying.

'After the western civilisation moved from Greece the gods went to Rome, then England. Eventually, after a few moves, they arrived in America. The romans beat every Celtic civilization in Europe, except for the Irish Celts. When the Roman Empire arrived in England its influence began to wane. The gods of Éire caused this. Their message was clear "don't even think about it". Their own chief god, Dagda was compared to Hermes by the romans. Hermes made peace with the Celts and one way or another saved his family from war that might have destroyed them once and for all. Hermes, as the messenger of the gods was allowed to go into Celtic territory. The other Olympians retained their hostility and went on to help England invade and keep the country for eight centuries. Oliver Cromwell was a son of Ares.' Kathy's jaw clenched and she muttered something that sounded a lot like 'bastard'. 'It was the Olympians that caused the failures of the 98 rising and the 1916 Easter rising. Though it was rather hypocritical as four of the seven executed were demigods themselves.' 'Fifteen' Kathy interrupted. 'Fifteen were executed. Patrick Pearse, who the rebels declared head of state so the English assassinated the Irish head of state which is not on, John McBride, who didn't know about the rising until it began, Thomas Mac Donagh, Thomas J. Clarke, Thomas Kent, who didn't even take part in the rising, was executed down in Cork, Joseph Plunkett, who married his fiancée the night before in the chapel of Kilmainham Gaol ,Edward Daly, Michael O' Hanrahan, Éamonn Ceannt, Conn Colbert, Michael Mallin, Sean Heuston, James Connolly, who was , due to severe injuries, unable to stand up and was shot tied to a chair and Seán Mac Diarmada, who is an ancestor of mine and William Pearse who was just a normal soldier but was killed because he was Patrick Pearse's brother. Interesting fact, Kent, Ceannt and Heuston all have train stations named after them.'

'Eamon De Valera, and Countess Markievicz weren't executed because De Valera, who went on to become the Irish head of state, was Irish American and the Brits wanted America's help in world war one and executing an American wasn't going to endear them to the Yanks and Countess Markievicz was a woman and they had kicked up a fuss about the Germans executing a woman in Belgium the previous year so that was a no-no.' Kathy corrected, not bothering to look up. When she finally did she saw everybody was staring at her. 'What? We had to learn this for the junior cert. Anyways, it's important.'

'The Olympians even caused the great famine.' Chiron continued. 'Two million died. Hermes tried to stop them but it was too late.' Kathy looked Chiron in the eye. 'Are you telling me that the Olympians killed over two million Irish men, women and children and caused the same number of people to immigrate just to show some other set of gods who's boss?' she said her eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't even name. Stronger than horror or disgust. It was a mixture of betrayal, national loyalty and plain old disbelief. These gods had killed millions of innocent people. They hadn't been criminals or bad people. They were just poor people who wanted to live. Chiron said nothing. Kathy got up and left the room, leaving the rest of the counsellors processing what this meant.

She went to the sword arena. She felt like punching something. Hard. In the face. The dummies didn't stand a chance. She hit them so hard their stands shook, which was quite an achievement when you consider that they were screwed to the ground. There were no sword lessons on Mondays so Kathy only left when the conch horn sounded for lunch. When she reached the dining pavilion Connor shot her a concerned look. Are you ok? It seemed to say. The look she gave him was clear. What the fuck do you think? By the way the rest of her siblings were acting she guessed that Chiron had told the counsellors to keep this to themselves.

All that stuff about the gods being at war with the Celts was giving Kathy a migraine. At least Hermes had tried to keep the peace. He knew that if the Olympians got their neighbours too angry there was a chance they wouldn't come out of it on top. But it was nicer to just think her dad was being a nice guy. Describing her dad as nice just seemed... nicer.

When she went up to scrape part of her meal into the flames she only thought one thing. Thanks Dad.


End file.
